Tomorrow is week two of artless Wednesdays in Pennsylvania.  How will you be participating?  For tips visit http://bit.ly/4r8vX.

From The Morning Call.

By Kathy Lauer-Williams

The Allentown Art Museum hung an empty frame in its lobby on Wednesday and will leave it there to draw attention to what the museum would look like if drastic cuts are made to the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts $14 million grant budget. Under Gov. Rendell’s proposed 2009-10 budget, more than $1 million would be cut from arts funding.

The museum has gone ”artless” as part of the statewide ”Artless Wednesdays” campaign spearheaded by Citizens for the Arts in Pennsylvania, a grass-roots coalition committed to advancing the arts through advocacy, programs and services.

Other arts organizations participating include The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, along with most of the Philadelphia area arts organizations, that either hung black drapes or closed; three theaters in Bradford County, that draped black cloth over the marquee, and the Southern Allegheny Museum of Art’s four museums, which either draped black cloth or turned off the lights Wednesday. Other organizations put a graphic of a black drape on their Web site.

Musikfest made a similar statement in August in conjunction with Citizens for the Arts, when it stopped the music at all venues for one minute while festival workers talked about the threat of state budget cuts.

”The livelihood of arts organizations, as well as their staffs and artists, are threatened with these proposed cuts — and the potential fallout could be catastrophic,” said Robert Metzger, interim executive director of the Allentown Art Museum.

The frame, an ornate gilt frame similar to those used in the museum’s Kress collection, is accompanied by a panel that explains the state budget impasse and the threat of funding cuts to the arts.

Metzger called going ”artless” a ”unique way for the museum to get involved and advocate — not just for our own organization — but for the entire arts community.”

The museum plans to keep the empty frame up until a budget is passed.

The Citizen for the Arts in Pennsylvania Web site at http://www.savetheartsinpa.com/artless states that ”each Wednesday until a budget is passed, we are asking for arts organizations to make a symbolic gesture to draw attention to what our communities might be like if there is no state support of nonprofit arts groups.”

”This was just the launch,” said group spokeswoman Jenny Hershour. ”We are hoping as we go longer in the budget impasse, more organizations will sign on. We are trying to get the message out.”

SAYRE – One Northern Tier theatre is joining a state-wide protest against cuts in funding for the arts.

Right now arts in Pennsylvania receive 15-million dollars.

Governor Ed Rendell is proposing a one-million cut in funding.

To protest, the Sayre Theater will drape a black drop-cloth over the facility’s marquee.

Art facilities across the state are also declaring Wednesday as “Artless Wednesday”.

The goal is to also show neighbors what it would be like if art didn’t exist in their communities.

Black curtains drape outside the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, or SAMA, in downtown Altoona.

Starting Sept. 9, museums across Pennsylvania have been asked to participate in ArtLess Wednesdays.

It’s a campaign push by the Citizens for the Arts in Pennsylvania: http://www.citizensfortheartsinpa.org/index.asp.

While the museums will stay open, each one will take a different approach towards the campaign.

SAMA Executive Director Gary Moyer said the Altoona museum will drape black curtains and dim lights inside.In Johnstown, curtains will drape over paintings.

And in Loretto and Ligonier Valley, workers will turn off the lights inside.SAMA already laid off one employee in their education department.

As far as fall programs go, Altoona site manager, Barbara Hollander, said they pushed their in school artist program to the spring. They’ve also stopped bringing original works of art into schools and hospitals.

“We’ve gone so far and to see this happening, it’s so sad,” Hollander said. “It’s going to be hard to come back from this.”

One of the best (and most challenging) jobs I ever had was at a local community arts center (The Abington Art Center, to be exact). I was hired as a marketing person to try to help them overcome some visibility issues they had (including being behind a huge stone wall) and raise their profile in the community. It was hard work, but so incredibly rewarding. I believed whole-heartedly in the mission of this art center, and some of the programs they created were just amazing. They make a real difference, every day, in the lives of their local children and adults.

One of my jobs there was the help coordinate a summer concert series. The Abington Art Center has an amazing back “lawn” (and sculpture park) that made the concerts perfect. I was in charge of these concerts for three years, and by my last summer at the organization over 1,500 people attended. You cannot imagine the deep and intense joy I felt each year as the lawn filled with people, and the children danced and danced. It made every minute of hard work (and the low pay that often comes with working in non-profits) worthwhile and a joy.

Arts organizations throughout the Philadelphia area have been a casualty in this economic climate. Individual funding is down as families tighten their belts, and both government funding and other grant giving organizations have been forced to decrease the amount of funding they can provide. I know every single arts organization has been affected, but I worry about the Arlington Art Center and wonder how they are holding up during this crisis because of my connection to them.

The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, along with most of the arts organizations in the Philly area have decided to call attention to the financial plight of the arts by participating in Artless Pennsylvania today, 9-9-09. This means that all of the art galleries, art museums, and local arts organizations today will remain dark. Actors are not acting, dancers are not dancing, musicians are not playing. Some galleries will cover the works with black cloth, others will simply be closed.

Imagine no Philadelphia Art Museum. No Rodin Museum. No Fleischer Art Memorial. No First Friday in Old City, no art galleries. No Academy of Music. No Kimmel Center. No Arts Bank.

Doesn’t sound like much of a city, does it?

If you believe that Philadelphia is a city that needs art, remind your state congressperson of the following quote from the GPCA: “We need to remind them today that the arts and culture are more than just a luxury – but they’re an economic engine, an educational outlet for our region’s children, and a means for understanding our world.” Call you state senator too. Tell them you believe in the arts in Pennsylvania, and to bear that in mind as they continue to hash out the 2010 budget.

We need the arts. It makes our world a better place.

9/9/09 marked the beginning of “Artless Wednesdays” being held across the state each Wednesday until a state budget is approved.

Elk County Council on the Arts, located on Main Street in Ridgway, was closed yesterday as it participated in the statewide arts advocacy mission.

The gallery windows were draped in black fabric with signs posted on the windows in demonstration of the 50 programs and projects in Elk, Forest, Jefferson and McKean counties which received funding from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts since 2007.

“As citizens we deserve a responsible state budget, to be passed in a timely manner,” noted Abbi Peters, ECCOTA executive director. “I urge residents to continue applying pressure to our legislators, call, e-mail, stop in their offices and remind them of the faces, the lives, the jobs that are affected by the drastic cuts and elimination in programs and services that are currently being proposed in the budget. These programs and services are vital to the quality of life and future of our community.”

The Artless Wednesday initiative was started by discussion of arts advocacy groups, Save the Arts of PA and Citizens for the Arts in PA.

The groups passed along the word to statewide arts organizations, encouraging them to demonstrate.

Among the proposed demonstrations arts organizations are considering include hosting a string quartet minus the instruments or covering artwork in public spaces.

“This shows how much art is in our lives and our community and how we’d be impacted if we lose that funding,” Peters said.

If the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) is eliminated from the state budget, Pennsylvania will be ineligible to receive federal level arts funding and become the only state without a state arts council.

The current budget provides $14 million in funding for arts grants and $1.2 million for the administration of the PCA. Broken down this would cost each taxpayer a nickel a week or $2.60 for the entire year.

“Arts funding ripples out further than the actual projects,” Peters noted.

She explained that Kane’s Art in the Wilds receives state funding and attracts a crowd of 4,000 people. Those people spend money in the area on food, gas and lodging, therefore supporting other businesses and industries.

“These programs provide jobs, tax revenue and quality of life in PA,” Peters added.

In 2007/08 art projects and programs funded by state dollars totaled $34,442 in grants to 24 organizations across four counties; in 2008/09 funding was $34,211 to 25 organizations and in 2009/10 the budget decreased to $22,618 to 16 organizations.

Among the possible programs which may be eliminated if the art grand funding is not included in the state budget are Art in the Wilds, Ridgway Chainsaw Carvers Rendezvous, University of Pittsburgh at Bradford’s Arts Programming, Bradford Creative and Performing Arts Center, First Night Bradford and The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club.

BY ARLENE JOHNS
The Tribune-Democrat

Area museums will “go dark” today as part of a statewide initiative to draw attention to the importance of the arts and state funding – in jeopardy because of the budget impasse.

Citizens for the Arts in Pennsylvania has asked museums, theaters and arts organizations to participate in “artless Wednesdays” each week until a state budget is passed.

The organization hopes the symbolic gesture will demonstrate the impact of the absence of state support.

Southern Alleghenies Museum of the Arts’ four museums will participatet.

Although museums will remain open, black cloths will cover the artwork at the Johnstown location while in Altoona black sheets will cover display windows. Lights will be out at the facilities in Ligonier Valley and Loretto.

“Our museums will be in mourning … to make citizens aware of how their lives will be altered in a world without art,” said Barbara Hollander, SAMA-

-Altoona coordinator.

Gary Moyer, executive director, said that between 17 and 20 percent of SAMA’s $1 million annual budget comes from state funding.

Each year, SAMA, in partnership with Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, provides art education programs to more than 25,000 students at nearly 100 schools in 31 school districts throughout Cambria, Somerset, Bedford, Blair,  Fayette and Westmoreland counties.

“We are not in the position to sustain the arts education program on our own,” Moyer said.

SAMA already has postponed programs and furloughed an education coordinator as a result of funding delays.

Without passage of a budget that includes money for the arts, Moyer said, “I believe we would be the only state in the union without state funding for the arts.”

Moyer and others want the day of mourning to catch the attention of state lawmakers.

“We still hope that our advocacy has not fallen on deaf ears,” Moyer said.

September 9, 2009

TOWANDA — A Northern Tier arts organization is showing its disapproval of Pennsylvania’s budget impasse in a unique way.

If you passed the Keystone or Sayre Theaters Wednesday, you may have noticed something a little different – the Bradford County Regional Arts Council has draped the marquees in protest.  The impasse is putting the council’s programming and employees in jeopardy.

“It’s not just fluff.  They’re in the classroom working with non-traditional learners,” explained Brenda Thomas, the council’s arts and education director.

Thomas says gone are the days of reclusive artists — she’s responsible for bringing local artists into schools.

But the program is in danger of losing money or being cut altogether.  A Senate version of the budget calls for $0 in arts funding.  Last year, the council received $ 15 million in state money.

If the program gets cut, Thomas’ job gets cut.
“We’ve tried to do what is the traditional advocacy part.  And generally, the legislators have responded, but nothing is happening,” said BCRAC executive director Brooks Eldredge-Martin.

So the BCRAC is heading to the streets, well, above the streets actually.  Towanda’s Keystone Theater’s sign is draped in black.  On the marquee a bold statement: “Imagine a world with no arts.”
“Picasso didn’t get a government grant or work off tax dollars,” said Bradford County commissioner Doug McLinko.

McLinko says he wants an end to the budget stalemate too, but doesn’t want any more taxes.

“Middle America can’t afford it anymore,” said McLinko.  “People have to realize there’s going to be pain — there’s going to be things they like that maybe might be a tussle for them for a while, and in the end it’ll all work out.”
The Arts Council will continue “Artless Wednesday” every Wednesday until a budget is in place.

artless wednesday’s are also mentioned today on the blog ginchy news.

From The Daily Review.